The BBC Radio 2 DJ Ken Bruce has criticised broadcasting executives for giving radio shows to TV stars who are not up to the job in what may be seen as an implicit criticism of his own station.

Bruce said radio executives had "lost their gifts as talent spotters", adding that too many famous faces were "parachuted into a prime radio slot with no experience of, or particular aptitude for, the medium".

The Radio 2 mid-morning host refused to name names, but BBC Radio – and Radio 2 in particular – has become home to many big TV names including the likes of Dermot O'Leary, Davina McCall, Paul O'Grady, Emma Forbes, Alan Carr and most infamously of all, Russell Brand.

"I have great admiration for people who do fast-moving live television, but an awful lot of television is just stand up, smile and you really often don't have to think for yourself," Bruce said in an interview to publicise his memoir, Tracks of My Years, which was published today.

"A lot of television personalities have done great radio, such as [Radio 2's] Jonathan Ross, but too often a famous face is parachuted into a prime radio slot with no experience of, or particular aptitude for, the medium."

Bruce was also critical of Radio 2 for failing to "trumpet" the success of the station's most popular DJs and for promotional campaigns which he said consistently showed the station's most high-profile recruits at the expense of others.

"Good though they undoubtedly are, the fact remains that over 70% of Radio 2's total audience share is provided by three shows: Sarah Kennedy, Terry Wogan and mine," he added.

"And the biggest single show on a Saturday is not Jonathan Ross, it's presented by an 80-year-old gentleman by the name of Brian Matthew under the title Sounds Of The 60s.

"Why are these successes not trumpeted? Because they don't fit with the marketing ethos of attracting new young audiences by showing them faces they already know."

Bruce's criticism comes as the performance and future remit of Radio 2 – and its sister digital station, BBC 6Music – is reviewed by the BBC Trust.

Fellow Radio 2 DJ Paul Gambaccini has also been critical of the practice of "airlifting television presenters into radio stations".

"Although a couple of them have been just fine like Jeremy [Vine] – and Dermot [O'Leary] works very hard – but on the whole it's been a failed project. They don't get the ratings and the programmes aren't good," Gambaccini told the Guardian in an interview last year.

In his memoir Tracks Of My Years, named after a slot on his Radio 2 show, Bruce said: "Stand-up comedians are also seen as a ripe recruiting area, and here too there are many who have a real gift for the intimate communication that radio needs, but there are far too many who simply come on and do a version of their act.

"Loud, larger-than-life performances work in clubs and theatres, but not on radio. Managements have lost their gifts as talent-spotters and are too content to rely on a proven public profile to garner an audience.

"There are very few young broadcasters coming up in the way I did, being allowed to do a music programme with no format.

"There's nowhere for people to learn how to do it. At commercial stations, young presenters are encouraged only to give the name of the station and talk for less than 15 seconds. That's not how you learn to do radio."

A BBC spokesman said: "Radio 2 has the most popular entertainers and music radio presenters in the business that come from a wide range of backgrounds and Ken Bruce is one of them."

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